Can you picture that?

It's no secret that I love picture books and subject my 8th graders to them on occasion.   The truth is they aren't just for little ones anymore.   Sometimes a book's humor, topic, plot twists and word choice are really meant for an older audience.

This week I read a book to one of my classes in which the narrator, illustration style and word choice are geared towards a younger audience, but the subject matter is not.   It grates on your sensibilities like plaid pants with argyle socks.   We examined the book critically...as in...who is this book for?

Let me back up for a second.

I've been feeling overworked this year.   But haven't we all?   The days that I don't have a planning period are particularly taxing.   In addition to teaching 5 classes of language arts, I have another class that bookends lunch.   We had a bit of freedom in choosing a course of study for our kids, so I chose picture books, African American themed picture books.   Our minority population is small, but our students take civics this year.   I remember being captivated by the stories of the civil rights movement at their age.   Even so, I was dreading adding one more class and 19 kids I didn't teach to my plate.   Oddly enough, it's becoming a favorite part of my day.   Before lunch, we work on something of my choosing.   After lunch, they may read their own books, or borrow something from our classroom.

So far we've read Tar Beach and The People Could Fly and talked a little about the myth of flight in African American stories.   We listened to the Blind Boys of Alabama and the Hot 8 Brass Band perform "I'll Fly Away."

Although the song was written by a white man who was no stranger to picking cotton, it's a tune that's been embraced by black congregations as well.   (And doggone if the season premiere of Treme didn't launch right into that song last week.   Serendipity.)   We spent a few days making small collages entitled, "If I had wings..."   And I'm thinking of a way for us to dance the second line with umbrellas (and fairy wings?) around the parking lot.

But I digress.

Back to the story at hand.   I don't mean any disrespect, but Bessie Smith and the Night Riders will make your willing suspension of disbelief wear a little thin.   It's a children's book based on the evening that the KKK showed up at a Bessie Smith tent show and Ms. Smith told them where to go.

Yes, the KKK.   Hmmmm.

The author has a young girl sneaking to see the show, spying the Night Riders pulling up tent stakes and alerting Ms. Smith.   Sure, there's a happy ending, as there was during the real incident, but the KKK in a children's book is a little odd.   If you take a longer look at the cover, you will see those nasty Klansman with their torches framing the smiling Emmarene and Bessie.   Well, the kid does like the song "Tain't Nobody's Business," so she can't be a stranger to violence.   No word on if she knows the songs "Kitchen Man" and "Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer."

Of course, the 8th graders were spellbound by the truth behind the story and well aware of the multitude of unhappy endings that could have resulted in Ms. Smith's confrontation with the Night Riders.   They decided that the book should be read to children only after the subject of the KKK has been taught in school.   Otherwise, how would one explain the KKK to preschoolers, the usual picture book crowd?

For additional drama, the story of Ms. Smith's death is another real life nail-biter.   If you're ever in Clarksdale, Mississippi, make sure to take note of the Blues Marker at the Riverside Hotel.   It was once a hospital, the one where Bessie died.   You may read the text of the marker here.

I'm going to post a link to a clip from an A& E Biography on dear Bessie, but let me apologize in advance for someone's manners.   Someone couldn't miss the opportunity to call Ma Rainey "the ugliest woman in show business" before remarking on Bessie's beauty.   Not necessary to put one woman down to lift another woman up, and tain't nobody's business if she is.

http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-smith-9486520/videos/bessie-smith-mini-bio-2079136302

Well, that's all for my not-quite-midnight-ramble.   Thank you and good night!

On Highway 61

Remember a couple of months back when I tried to get you to hit the road?   We were talking about the Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.   In particular, I was trying to make my way to the Delta...to the most southern place on earth.   Cleveland, Mississippi.

I'm on the short list, y'all.

It sounds like a week full of hard work at Delta State, but I'm looking forward to being in the birthplace of the blues.   BBQ, tamales, Koolickles, The Fighting Okra, Stax Records, Po Monkey's Lounge, catfish, and so on.  

And he's not on the itinerary, but guess who was born in nearby Leland, Mississippi.  

Kermit. The. Frog.

I've not had a mind or the money to scoot down highway 61 before now, but I'm looking forward to my first visit to M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I.

And $30 for some graduate credit/ recertification points?

Thanks, DSU!

Teaching The Blues

I decided to put together a short lesson on writing blues songs.   Silly me--I thought most 8th graders had something to complain about.   I was wrong.   Many of them are pretty content and often happy.   The kids are alright...which is great news.   But, I still wanted to make this lesson work.  

I added a variation that has seemed to work better for eighth graders-- writing a blues song from the point of view of a character in the book they are reading.   It's a fresh way to identify the main conflict of a book as well.   If we are reading a class novel, I try to encourage them to use characters from another book that they've finished recently.   (Now, if you want to read 100+ papers worth of "Old Major's Blues" from Animal Farm, be my guest.   That book is full of working for the Man.   Two legs bad!)

For a model, we use Jimi Hendrix's "Red House."   We look at the format of the lyrics on a handout before we listen to the song.   We talk about the line breaks, rhyme scheme and repetition.   And, yes, you will need to point out that a blues song contains some sort of complaint.   I know.  

You will then need to play the song for them at least once and enjoy the beauty of Hendrix together.   If you play the guitar, bring it!   If you are like me, you will have to be content with helping the kids figure out the rhythm of the bass line by tapping it out the desk and hoping for the best.   I usually let the song play through once without any teacher talk; I play it a second time through, so I can pick it apart a little for the kids to see inside. 

Some writers get it right away.   It's like they've been waiting their whole short lives to rock a juke joint with the band.   Others just can't seem to hammer out the rhyme scheme.   Ask permission to share some of the successful student samples with the class to help other songwriters craft their work.

There are lots of great blues songs out there; "Red House" just works for me.   It is short and easy to pattern...and most kids have some knowledge of Hendrix.   When you are teaching something new, it always helps for kids to have any trace of background knowledge on what's being taught.

If you want an intricate and lovely lesson plan regarding this topic, please see this PBS website.

If you want to relax on Sunday with a blues radio show, Johnny Horn starts broadcasting live at 9 A.M. in Seattle.   That's noon here on my front porch.   You can also listen to archived shows using the links on the website.   I subscribe to some of the play lists via e-mail, so I don't have to run to the computer every time I hear a song I love.   Go to kexp.org ,"Shows" and "Preaching The Blues."